Switzerland: Lausanne researchers to examine Arafat’s body
A team of Swiss scientists has been given the go-ahead to test the exhumed body of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for traces of radioactive polonium. Poisoning by this substance…
Beating youth unemployment: Exporting the Swiss apprenticeship model
by Julie Zaugg in London, swissinfo.ch Faced with massive youth unemployment, Britain is the latest country to take an interest in the Swiss apprenticeship system. The “dual” model which combines…
Legal amendments could cut naturalisations
The number of foreigners being granted Swiss citizenship is likely to fall by nine per cent a year if government-backed amendments to the naturalisation law are accepted, according to a…
It’s in the cards
Nine per cent of the Swiss population practises alternative spirituality, according to a national study on religion. swissinfo.ch journalist Susan Vogel-Misicka sat in on a Bern workshop about reading tarot…
Swiss keep religion at a distance
by Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch Religion is becoming less important in people’s private lives in Switzerland, even among tax-paying members of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, two-thirds of whom are…
My cocaine flight straight to a Swiss prison
by Patricia Islas Züttel, swissinfo.ch Sara* wandered around Zurich airport transit area for two hours looking for the restaurant to hand over her goods. “I got lost. That’s when I…
Swiss assessment team arrives in Iran quake-hit areas
Switzerland has dispatched a four-member assessment team to Iran in the wake of two powerful earthquakes which shook the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan last Saturday. According to a statement…
The shape of chocolate to come
by Matt Allen, swissinfo.ch Universally loved and recession proof, chocolate continues to be a sweet prospect for both manufacturers and consumers. But while sales growth is expected to continue on…
Flying the Swiss flag on the high seas
by Sophie Douez, swissinfo.ch It might seem strange for a landlocked country to have a merchant navy, but the 41 commercial ships sailing under the Swiss flag represent a vital…
Switzerland: Forced marriage affects hundreds
In the past two years, around 1,400 young women in Switzerland have been forced to marry, end a relationship or have been told not to seek a divorce, according to…
Switzerland: Circumcision resumed, but Hospital vows to introduce stricter practice
Zurich University Children’s Hospital says it is resuming the practice of circumcising boys. The hospital introduced a five-week moratorium at the beginning of July following a controversial ruling by a…
ICRC vows to maintain presence in Libya
Swissinfo.ch and agencies The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it will stay in Libya, despite suspending its work in the port of Misrata and in the…
The only Swiss Olympic News: Swiss Olympic expels player for racist tweet
Swiss footballer Michel Morganella has been expelled from the London Olympics for posting a racist message on social networking website Twitter. Swiss Olympic team chief Gian Gilli said Morganella was…
Jungfrau Railway is still on top
by Clare O’Dea on the Jungfraujoch, swissinfo.ch Not many records are still in place 100 years on but the Jungfraujoch railway station on the shoulder of the Jungfrau mountain in…
Bern to help Beirut take in Syrian refugees
Switzerland has pledged to assist Lebanon in housing refugees who have fled from neighbouring crisis-torn Syria. Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees…
Tighter rules slow down bids for citizenship
by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch and agencies The number of requests for Swiss citizenship has dropped for the third consecutive year, which the Federal Migration Office says is the result of…
Traditional burial practices lose ground (or: darling, you are and will be my diamond for ever)
by Ariane Gigon in Zurich, swissinfo.ch For many deceased, the cemetery is no longer their “final resting place”. Scattering ashes out in the open, burying the urn in a forest…
Swiss legal experts divided over circumcision
by Sophie Douez, swissinfo.ch Moves by two Swiss hospitals to suspend the practice of circumcising boys in the wake of an adverse court ruling about the procedure in Germany have…
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